The Destruction Inside
by MentalMeander
Summary: AU of the Master's death in LoTL with Rose. "She desperately wants to hold his hand, hug him and protect him from their stares, but she can't...she doesn't understand, could never understand..." Please read and review!


**I'm back! I haven't written much for a few weeks due to going back to school, plus getting a job, but I'm hoping to burst back into the writing scene like erm, a bursty thing. Anyway, here's my newest fic, which is a bit different, even for me, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. It's set in an AU of the ending of season 3, in which Rose has managed to pop up. I'm not sure how. Maybe she didn't fall into the void, or maybe she managed to get back from Pete's World, that's up to you. So read, laugh, (or not, since it's not really a comedy) enjoy and review!! ~M&M**

**Oh, also thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed and faved my other stories! I wanted to send all you amazing people letters (That's right, not emails: old fasioned super-posh _letters_) filled with thank yous, but I was too lazy. Seriously, that's my excuse. But thanks anyway for the awesome feedback!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. However I did once manage to paint a dalek out of marmite, which I think should count for something.

Pairing: Rose/Ten. More friendship than actual romance, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Set During: _Last of the Time Lords_. And a little itty bit of _The End of the World_.

* * *

It's strange, the things that split them apart. (_And not much can._)

Yet here she is, surrounded by her own kind as he weeps bitterly on the other side of the room. (_Is it right that she no longer feels like one of them?_)

Everyone's just staring; they don't know what to do, so they just stare. (_She desperately wants to hold his hand, hug him and protect him from their stares, but she can't...she doesn't understand, could never understand._)

Her eyes meet Jack's and he knows what she's thinking, so he begins to herd them away, out of the room, off the Valiant, and back on to Earth, where they can be safe. (_And so that they'll stop staring. He's not theirs to stare at._)

When enough of them are gone, she forces her feet towards him and reaches out to lay a hand on his trembling shoulder. (_He's stopped screaming now, just rocking back and forth as he whimpers softly to himself._)

"Doctor." Her voice shakes and he turns sharply, the...body crashing to the floor. (_His eyes are filled with anger and tears and suffering and so much hate, and for the first time ever, she thinks he's going to hit her._)

But he spins back round and runs away, trying to escape from the death and destruction that follows him wherever he goes. (_She can't help but follow too._)

"Rose, let him go." The look in Jack's eyes tells her that the Doctor doesn't want her right now, he needs to be alone. (_"You don't understand, neither of us could ever possibly understand."_)

But she follows him anyway, listening for light footsteps through the narrow halls until she finds him. (_Standing, still and unmoving in front of a giant window that takes up the entire wall, staring down at the Earth._)

She walks towards the window, standing far enough away from him so that he doesn't feel like she's intruding, and looks down at her home planet. (_A parallel, mirroring another time when he came for her, and took her by the hand as he led her away from another window, on another day so long ago..._)

"It's a bit like our first date," she jokes, sending him a nervous smile. (_He still doesn't move, just continues staring at the planet below._)

"Y'know, when we were on Platform One...an' we had a bit of a shout at each other, remember?" Still no response. She nervously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Over the year she's been away from him it's grown dark again. She'll have to redye it_. _(_All the little things that have happened to them while they've been apart, that have hurt them both so much..._)

She forces a laugh and looks down at her shoes. "I was terrified. I mean, I was billions of years in the future, surrounded by aliens, about to see my planet roasted, and I'd just realized the man I was with was a complete stranger." (_It's strange...alien, thinking of a time when she didn't trust him with her life. And it brings back memories of someone she trusted a little too quickly._)

"Thing is Doctor," she continues, "You weren't the first guy I ran off with." (_Memories of tears __and hurt and fear; so much scarier than any alien._)

She sees a flash of movement out of the corner of her vision, and tears her eyes away from her sneakers to look at him. (_He's still staring down at the Earth, but now she knows she has his attention._)

"A few years ago there was this...guy. Jimmy Stone. He was 20, a musician, and I thought he was the best thing that had ever happened to me, so I left Mum and moved in with him. (_Memories so vivid it only seems like yesterday. And it hurts so much, but she has to tell him now._)

"It was a mistake," she whispers, biting her lip as hard as she can, because she knows she has to say it. "He drank. And he hit me. A lot." _Now_ he's looking at her. (_Face still numb and inexpressive, but with the faint traces of alarm printed across his features._)

"And I put up with it...I don't know why. Maybe I thought I loved him, or it would get better...but it didn't. And then one day, I woke up and just realized I had to escape, so I left him. I was terrified of what would happen next, but Mum took me back like nothing had happened." (_Talking quickly, wanting to say it before the pain becomes too much too bear._ _Hot, wet tears burning as they form behind her eyes to match his._)

"And about a year later, I heard they'd found his body." She stops to swallow nervously. "He'd overdosed. And when I found out, I thought I'd be happy, because he wouldn't be able to hurt me, or anyone else, and he'd finally gotten what he deserved...but I wasn't. I cried, and I wouldn't talk to anyone for ages, and I didn't even know why. I still don't know why. (_She doesn't understand._)

She looks deep into his eyes, and whispers, "I know it's not the same as this...not even remotely the same, but it's the closest I have...and I know I don't really understand, and never will, and I'm not even saying I'll try to, but what I'm trying to say is...I'm here. With you. F-forever." (_Tears freeing themselves, dripping down her cheeks as she looks across at her angel._)

There's a deep, hollow silence, filled only by the sound of the Valiant's engines, and then he gives a small nod before slowly extending a long arm towards her. (_And he understands._)

He slips his hand into hers and their fingers wrap around each other like it's meant to be. After all this time they still fit. (_It's perfect, and she knows it can't last, but it has to, because..._)

Their eyes meet across the distance, hints of sadness showing in his as he finally breaks, and allows her to see him. Allows her to understand. (_Because..._)

Finally, he speaks. "I missed you." (B_ecause she loves him._)

She smiles sadly and turns back to look at the beautiful planet that was once her home. (_Standing there, feeling so lost and completely alone as the debris of her home floated past, drifting off into space like lost water dribbling through her fingers._)

His grip on her tightens slightly, and she knows that now he needs her more than ever before. (_Hearing his footsteps as he walked towards her, feeling his hand slip into hers and pull her away. "Come with me."_)

She'll be there for him. She knows that, has always somehow known that whenever he falls, she'll be there to catch him, because he'd do the same for her. (_Waiting for her as she glanced behind at the fiery ruin of Earth,and then pulling her away to take her home._)

And she'll lead him away, pulling him gently by the hand when he turns to look back at the destruction they're leaving behind. (_Instead healing the destruction inside of him._)

* * *

**Liked? Hated? Think I should be locked up and sedated? Either way that button's there for a reason. Gooo on, you know you wanna. :)**


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